little flower candy company (pasadena)

little flower candy company
1424 w colorado boulevard
pasadena, ca 91105
(626) 304-4800
www.littleflowercandy.com

once in awhile i treat myself to some beautiful spongy marshmallows. i love them…they’re so cute and always put a smile on my face and in my heart everytime i see one. :)

we recently had lunch at europane bakery in pasadena, and bought these adorable fluffy homemade marshmallow there. they’re made by little flower candy, co. (they’re on west colorado blvd, but their website is still under construction.) aren’t they pretty? each packet comes with four very pretty pastel colors vanilla marshmallows. the only complain we would have is how these are crystal sugar coated instead of powdered coated. when we bite into it, the sugar was so sweet and the micro-crystal texture simply overpowered the soft and delicious marshmallow itself. other than that, if you love marshmallows and sweets, drop by and pick one up…makes a nice little cheer up gift, too! :)

ben & jerry’s (century city)

ben & jerry’s century city
10250 santa monica blvd
century city, ca 90067
(310) 788-9682

i’ve wanted to check out this special inauguration “yes pecan” flavor since i heard it on the news.  so yesterday, after dinner at century city’s westfield mall, we dropped by the ben & jerry’s there to have a little taste test. :p  hmm, i tried a little spoonful of it and unfortunately, it was just way too buttery for me.  :p  i like their “yes pecan!” poster though! :)

…and, congratulations to our 44th president, barack h. obama!! it’s a great day for us all!! :)

starbucks’ gingerbread man cookie (culver city)

starbucks (jefferson x centinela location)
12313 jefferson blvd
los angeles, ca 90230
(310) 823-3479
www.starbucks.com-jefferson X centinela

so christmas morning, we were heading to the union station homeless services at pasadena to volunteer for their christmas dinner in the park event. with only a few hours of sleep the night before, and having forgotten to brew my own coffee, we stopped by the nearest starbucks on the way to the 10E. i don’t usually crave for gingerbread at all, but since it’s christmas, i just had to grab one to share on the road. :)

isn’t the gingerbread man cute? whenever i see one, it always reminds me of the gingerbread man from the candyland board game, and it instantly put a big smile on my face. :)   i can still remember vividly that my mom bought me that cute board game from toys”r”us the very first time i visited the u.s. (specifically san francisco)! :) i had loved all the cute graphics and characters of candyland and imagined that i had shrunk to their size and lived in candyland with them for awhile. i was such a silly girl! :) anyway, this starbucks‘ gingerbread man cookie is actually pretty good. it’s not hard crunchy, but easy to bite into and the aroma of the ginger and cinnamon is not overwhelming. i also like that it’s not overly decorated with the icing. what a nice way to start the day! have a merry christmas, everyone! :)

panini coffee & cafe (marina del rey)

panini coffee & cafe
4325 glencoe ave., suite 8
marina del rey, ca 90292
(310) 823-4446

(sorry for the blurry pics…all photos on this entry taken by my iphone.)
my friend picked me up for dinner around the neighborhood, and after dinner, we decided to walk around the block before heading home. as we passed by panini coffee & cafe, we looked at each other with a chuckle, and went straight in looking to satisfy our sweet teeth. ;) though they’ve been around for years, but i don’t know why i never gotten a chance to check it out. as we stepped inside, i was immediately attracted by the cute, warm, ‘british cafe’ style atmosphere (though unpretentious, and very pleasant). the server, who just walked out of the kitchen with a dish on his hand, greeted me with a friendly nod and smile. i really love how the cafe is divided into two rooms by a wall in between, which makes the place more cozy, instead of one big spaceous room. there were a variety of desserts and specialty coffee to choose from over the counter, on top of the delicious list on the menu. we were looking at all the choices of desserts that evening, and decided upon a pecan pie, a chocolate cake, and a cafe mocha to share.

while waiting for our orders, i looked around and checked out their cute decor. there were about two visible servers working behind the counter and one on the serving floor. the staffs are very nice and the guy over the counter apologized for taking so long to get our desserts, but we didn’t mind at all, as the warm atmosphere really put us in a relaxing mood. :)

my pecan pie was extremely sweet. i didn’t quite enjoy the texture of the fillings. for someone who always finishes her pecan pie, i wasn’t able to.

my friend had the chocolate cake, and it was yummy! very moist and simply devilicious! :)

the generous cup of warm cafe mocha was heavenly, and just perfect to warm up a cold evening.

as we were enjoying our desserts, we caught ourselves paying attention to all the dishes the server brought out, and went “mmm mmm mm” each time he passed by. i really like this place, but it is abit on the pricey side (though the portions are fairly generous). this is a great place where you can either enjoy company of good friends, or would simply feel at home dining alone, perhaps with a good book.

hotcakes bakes (culver city)

hotcakes bakes
4119 centinela avenue
los angeles, ca 90066
(310) 397-2324
mon-sat 9am-7pm
sun 10am-6pm
www.hotcakesbakes.com

i’ve drove by this place so many times, but never gotten around to drop by until this evening. the first thing that caught my eyes is the beautiful pink and brown colors of their cute “hotcakes bakes” sign. i’m not much of a cupcake fan actually (but i think cupcakes are very cute and pretty and i enjoy looking at them), but once in awhile, i do have an urge to have one. so, after dinner nearby, we decided to check out this little hidden treasure.

once inside, we were both greeted by a friendly lady in a sweet pink “hotcakes bakes” t-shirt. your attention will immediately go to the array of yummy looking cupcakes, macaroons, brownies, freshly baked cookies, canneles, and other sweet desserts on their display counter. behind the counter, it’s an open pastry kitchen, where another lady in the same pink t-shirt was busy working on some yummy desserts. watching her work just even for a minute tempted me to take up some pastry classes. (i hope they will offer some pastry classes, demo, or tasting events in the future. that would be so much fun!) there are only two little cozy half-circle tables if you want to eat in. on each side of the walls, there are newspaper articles about them and celebrity signed photo. along side on the side counters, there are also display of beautiful wedding cakes.

we finally decided on a cannele ($2), a chocolate mint cupcake ($3), and six macaroons ($2.50 each) in strawberry, chocolate, coconut, pistachio, smores and coffee to go. the cannele is very rich and moist. not only is the chocolate mint cupcake so pretty, but it is as rich and moist on the texture, and the whipped frosting is really smooth and creamy… at first bite, i could immediately enjoy the full fragrant of the mint… mmm :) as for the macaroons, you can never go wrong with those! :) i will definitely drop by again to try the other yummies, especially since it’s so close to my place. they also do catering, so do come by for a treat if you’re in the area! :)

whole foods bakery’s fresh berries fruit tart (el segundo)

whole foods bakery (el segundo branch)
760 south sepulveda blvd
el segundo, ca 90245
(310) 333-1900
7am-10pm daily
www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/elsegundo

my friend and i had a quick dinner at the el segundo’s whole foods market, and we just had to check out their pastry department before heading out. :P few months ago, i haven’t been feeling too well, both physically and emotionally, so my friend wanted to cheer me up abit. knowing how much a berries lover i am, he got me a whole fresh berries fruit tart to go! :p

the size is good for 4-5 small slices, but this would easily take us couple days to finish it! :D look at how gorgeous the colors are! the raspberries, blueberries, and starwberries are fairly fresh, sweet and plump, and the rich, buttery crust of the tart just melt in your mouth… hmm hmm hmm ;) i think i’ve just satisfied my fresh berries tart craving to last me the rest of the year! :P

matcha tiramisu (home kitchen)

ikitchen
marina del rey, ca 90295
yumyuminthetumtum’s home kitchen

when i was still living in hong kong, i used to scout out the best tiramisu in town, and the ones at the peak was my favorite! :)   though there are so many tiramisu recipes around, some time years ago, i accidentally came across one that was simple to follow from a magazine i browsed through while getting my hair cut.  from someone who doesn’t like following recipes, i usually just did it my way.  since i have some matcha (green tea powder) laying around in my kitchen cupboard, this time, i decided to make a matcha tiramisu.  i’ve always enjoyed making tiramisu for friends, but had not made one in awhile.   while getting too excited with my matcha experiment, i forgot to add the green tea powder when whipping the mascarpone, so the only green tea powder you would find was on top of the dessert in substitution of the cocoa powder. a regular size cookie cutter is not deep enough for the tiramisu, so i traced the shape and cut it with a knife instead to form this cute little heart shape. a sweet way to celebrate your next valentine’s day if you wanna give this a try. :)